Before researching an artist or trying to understand what an artwork may be worth, it helps to answer a more basic question: What is the artwork actually made with? A work that appears to be a painting could be oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, pastel, ink, or mixed media. Sometimes what looks painted from across the room is actually a print or reproduction. Identifying the medium can help determine how the work should be researched, handled, photographed, and compared with

An unidentified painting can be one of the hardest items in an estate to evaluate. Sometimes the artist’s signature is easy to read. Often it is not. Some paintings are unsigned. Others have signatures that are faded, partially hidden, difficult to decipher, or added later. And sometimes the most useful information is not on the front of the artwork at all. Before selling an unknown painting, print, drawing, or other work of art, it is worth slowing down long enough to gather